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I believe that every experience is valuable, and this particular experience saved me (for the most part) from succumbing to the unconscious hatred of myself. These were not the only assaults I have had to face, and I am sure that they will not be the last. Little dark skinned girls will continue to be victimized until we as a nation can come to terms with the history of this nation. I am grateful for my awareness, and I am calmed by the growing amount of Black people in America that are "waking up" everyday. The Bluest Eye verbalized my experience and helped me to analyze myself and my actions. This kind of analysis will lead people to see themselves in a clearer light. This woman's coloring represents the standard for beauty in our culture. America's preoccupation with physical beauty caused damages within the mainstream society-- one that Blacks were excluded from. As time progressed the effects of this obsession were seen in the anorexia/bulimia epidemic that recently swept the country, affecting mostly white females. We have, as Toni Morrison succinctly pointed out, allowed assumptions of immutable inferiority to severely damage us. This damage will not be completely repaired in this lifetime and probably not the next. How could it have been any different when Great Britain's --the empire that American was patterned after-- goal at one point was to colonize the world, spreading their values, face, religion, and thoughts to every country that wasn't as savage. No longer are we confined to the "artificial standards" each community selects. Previous advancements in media technology allow the mass transmission of ideas and concepts instantly over hundreds of miles. Mass communication has made it possible for community standards of physical attractiveness, to be spread nationwide as standards of physical attractiveness. This medium is controlled by the most affluent members of society, rich white men. As the mode of communication was upgraded, community standards of beauty were catapulted to nationwide standards. The preferences and standards of a specified community --the affluent, (owners of television and radio stations)-- are broadcast over hundreds of miles into the living rooms of almost every family in America. This epidemic being fairly new does not compare to the sickness that has plagued African American females since their arrival on the first slave ship. Even the civil rights movement could not abolish our feeling that our natural appearance was not acceptable. Altering our natural state with inventions such as the straightening comb and later relaxers and weave. This things did not make us beautiful they made us acceptable. All of these inventions may not be obviously attempts to become white, but surely the secretive use of bleaching creme hint at the devastating destruction of our psyche our unconscious To be acceptable is to alter your natural state, to be beautiful is to be white. The psychological effects of living in a society that hated,oppressed us and even denied our humanness has evolved: color contacts, bleaching creme, weave, straightening comb, relaxers, S-Curl, perms; in short, Good hair v.bad hair There is absolutely no hope for a Black female to ever be blonde with blue eyes and this is why racial self contempt exists. |
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